Rock Hard

With multiple blockbuster movie franchises to his name, and Hobbs & Shaw ready to break all sorts of box office records, Dwayne Johnson still isn’t taking his foot off the gas. In fact, he’s working harder than ever.

- M&F Editors

AMERICA’S MOST PERSONABLE PURVEYOR of big-screen mayhem, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, is back to save the world once again, and this time he has a little help. Actually, a lot of help. On Aug. 2, the charismatic action star will reprise his role of Luke Hobbs, opposite Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, in the first-ever Fast & Furious spin-off, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. In the film, Hobbs, a DSS special agent, and Deckard, a former British Special Forces agent turned mercenary, team up to stop the nefarious schemes of Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a genetically enhanced terrorist who’s in possession of a biological weapon that could wipe out mankind.

With its eight films grossing more than $5 billion worldwide, the Fast series is the most successful current movie franchise outside of Star Wars and the Marvel universe. The ninth installment in the main series is set to be released in 2020. The Rock’s Hobbs first appeared in Fast Five in 2011, and it’s probably no coincidence that the film became the highest-grossing installment of the Fast franchise up until that point, breaking box office records for an April opening at the time. The burly 47-year-old action star’s films have a lifetime gross of nearly $3.5 billion at the U.S. box office alone, and Hobbs & Shaw should add considerably to that total.